Regular Board Meeting Notes

July 23, 2024

 6:00 PM-Regular Board Meeting

1,2,3. Call to Order/Roll Call/Pledge:  

The Board President announced the meeting is to begin, ascertains the attendance status of all board members, with Mrs. Nancy Mayer and Mrs. Bonnie Howard being absent.  The Board Vice President leads in the saying of the Pledge of Allegiance. 

4.  Consent Agenda:  The consent agenda was approved.

5.  Public Comments:  

6.  Old Business:  

A.     There was no old business to discuss.  

7.  New Business: 

A.  There were no budget amendments for the month of July.    

B.  The board approved the PDC Plan for the 2024-2025 school year.  

C.  The board approved the Substitute Handbook for the 2024-2025 school year.  

8.  Discussion Items: The following items were discussed with the board:

A.  The next regular board meeting is scheduled for August 27, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. 

The tax-rate hearing will begin at 5:45 p.m.  

B.  The Back-to-School Bash was discussed.  It will be held on July 31st from 

10:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. in the Bearcat Event Center.  

C.  The MSBA and MARE annual conference dates and locations were discussed.  

In Closed Session:  

1.  The board approved the following resignations, retirements, recensions:

Taylor Condict-Resignation-Volunteer FB Coach.  

Chris Bolin-Resignation-MS Head Baseball Coach.      

Jennifer Hampton-Recension of her resignation provided in June-High School Nurse.    

2.  The board approved the hiring of the following individuals for the 2024-2025 school year, 

pending a favorable background check and appropriate certification:

Chuck Powers-High School History-Critical Shortage.  

Cansia McBride-Special Services Paraprofessional at Central.  

Jessica Dickey-Special Services Paraprofessional at Southwest.

Matt Terry-Volunteer Assistant for MS Wrestling.  

Rob Nichols-Head MS Baseball.  

Items at the Conclusion of Executive Session

1. There were no items to be considered.  

Notes from the Bloomfield Board of Education meeting held on July 8th, 2024.  

Puxico School Board of Education met in a regular session on Thursday, June 13, 2024. Below are the minutes from that meeting.

The Board of Education met in regular session on Thursday, June 13, 2024.

Routine Business:

• Meeting called to order by President of the Board
• Board approved minutes from regular meeting held on May 2, 2024.
• Board approved payment of bills
• Board adopted agenda after making changes. 

Reports:

• End of Year 

Old Business: Puxico Mingo/Tech 24-25 Calendar – No Action Taken

New Business

• Board approved : 

a.)  No meal rate increases. Student lunches remain $2.00 (full price) and $.40 (reduced price) per meal, 

       staff lunches $2.75 per meal.  Breakfast to remain free for students and staff rates remain $1.00 per meal.

b.)  To amend the 2023-2024 budget to actual

c.)  To operate on the 2023-2024 budget until the 2024-2025 budget is finalized

d.)  The 2024-2025 regular board meetings schedule (Dates & Times)

e.)   Evaluation of Instructional Climate

f.)   Evaluation of Educational Persistence

g.)  Employee Retention Incentive

h.)  2024-2025 Athletic handbooks

i.)   No Action Taken –  Revision 1 to the Puxico R-8 2024-2025 Calendar

j.)   Moved to Old Business

k)   Adopted Board policies and Regulations:P1425 – School Volunteers, P2115 Transgender Students, 

      P2200 – Admission and Withdrawal, P&R 2240 – Admission and withdrawal Nonresident Students,

      P2400 – Student Educational Records, P2525 – Graduation requirements, P2760 – Students in Foster Care,

      P2810 – Counseling Services, P&R 4120 – Employment Procedures, 

      P4866 – Pregnancy, Childbirth Anti-Discrimination, P4867 – Lactation Accommodation, 

      P6121 – Holocaust Education, P6122 – Social Studies Religious Influence Class, 

      P6251 – Blind Students Independence, Training and Education   

l.)   Set date and time of June 20, 2024 at 5:30 pm for closed work session board meeting

m.) ELA Curriculum and Plan of Instruction

Executive Session

• Accepted letters of resignation from Kyla Freeman as JH Softball Asst. Coach and 

Mike Owens as JH Baseball Asst. Coach

• Hired Abigail Wirz – Para Professional, Brittney Dunivan – Little Library position     

Stephanie Null – Pre-School Aide for 2024-2025 school year

• Approved assignment of Jennifer Alberson as JH Scholastic Meet Sponsor and Kelly Smothers as Jr BETA Assistant for 2024-2025 school year

The Dexter School District held Active Shoot Training at Dexter High School on July 17, 2024.  The Dexter Police Department, Missouri State Highway Patrol, Missouri Department of Conservation, Dexter Fire Department, Emergency Management, and Stoddard County Ambulance District were involved in mock active shooter training exercise.

If the unthinkable were to occur Chief Hank Trout stated that they would like to all be on the same page training together and learning how to engage in the individual and take him/her down as safely as possible while protecting our students on campus.  Dexter Schools has two Resource Officers on campus during school hours as well as at sporting events and other on campus events.

The training exercise began with a 911 call from someone inside the halls of DHS.  "Please help, there is a shooter inside the high school!"

The Dexter PD Resource Officers were first on the scene.  They entered the building with their weapons drawn and ready to shoot.  Once inside the hallway, the officers could hear and see victims on the floor screaming for help or they were already dead from the shooter.  They made the training as realistic as possible even with fake blood next to victims.  Fire trucks blocked the entrances to the high school to prevent the public from entering.

During a real incident the officers will take down the shooter as quickly as possible before checking the injured or dead.  They have to take out the threat first!  

Once the threat is down, EMS and first responders will be allowed to enter the building.  They check the pulse of the first patient, dead.  They move on quickly to the next victim, quickly loading him onto the gurney, checking vitals and running out of the building to an awaiting ambulance.  

It will be chaotic in a "real" situation.  There was only one 911 call to initiate this training.  During a real event, there will be multiple 911 calls.  Everyone with a cell phone will be calling.  Students, teachers, parents etc will be calling 911 and the school to find out the condition of their loved one.  It will be very hectic.

This is important, parents will not be allowed on campus until the situation is under control, all victims have been sent to the hospital and the school officials enact their plan to release students from different campuses.  It will seem like an eternity, frustrations will be high, people will be mad, but to be honest, it's all to protect your student!  These officers took this training very seriously.    

This was the first time the fire department and EMS have been included in the active shooter training.  This helps those involved to access what went right and what went wrong so they can improve on communication as well as how to handle all the moving parts of a scenario such as this.

Gavin Miller, Assistant Superintendent of Dexter Public Schools will be at the command post waiting and listening to the radio to hear the shooter has been taken out.  It's part of what they call ALICE Training.

ALICE is an active shooter protocol and stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate.

ShowMe Times will be near the command center as well and will be reporting whatever needs to be sent out to the community.  This is one reason I attend these trainings so I can be helpful and not in the way if a real shooting incident were to occur.  As a parent I understand the need to get to your student/son/daughter/grandson/granddaughter as quickly as possible and it would be hard for me to stay away, but during the entire training those officers do not know what to expect.  Everyone is a potential target and they do not want to accidentally shoot someone.  Adrenaline is high and that lump in your throat is there.  Even during the scenario those participating could feel the intenseness of the officers.  They take this very seriously!  Thank you to everyone who participated and we hope this never happens to any school, bur if it happens here, they are ready!